Family Challenges Drug Overdose Theory in Designer's Death

The family of a fashion designer from New York is pushing back against the initial theory that her mysterious death on a luxury yacht was a drug overdose. Emergency responders reportedly found blood in her mouth, on her head, and across her chest. These marks support their belief that Martha Nolan-O'Slatarra was killed rather than overdosing. The family's lawyer, Michael Bowe, revealed these chilling details exclusively to the Daily Mail as they prepare to file a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against investor Christopher Durnan.

Durnan was with Nolan-O'Slatarra when she died last summer. Some of the facts uncovered so far appear in EMT reports that indicated blood was found behind her head, too. Bowe told the Daily Mail that law enforcement had previously told the family the scene had been cleaned before responders arrived, which made finding this evidence particularly alarming.

The three-page preliminary filing on Tuesday marks exactly one year since they learned of Nolan-O'Slatarra's untimely passing. It accuses Durnan, who is believed to have invested more than $200,000 in her beauty boutique, of causing her death through assault and negligence. The meet-up happened on August 4, 2025, onboard his yacht, the Ripple, at the ritzy Montauk Yacht Club in the Hamptons. They were there to discuss her swimwear fashion company, East x East.

But the night ended in horror when Durnan dashed down the dock naked around midnight, screaming for help and claiming his blonde, blue-eyed guest had passed out. Martha Nolan-O'Slatarra, 33, was found unresponsive aboard the yacht on August 5, 2025, before being declared dead at the scene. Bystanders clambered onto the Ripple to try to revive her, but it was too late.

Law enforcement sources initially suspected a possible drug overdose. However, Nolan-O'Slatarra's family wasn't convinced and pointed to what they described as suspicious behavior by Durnan that night. 'Durnan was found naked on the dock and claimed he had stripped because Martha had vomited on him,' Bowe told the Daily Mail. Yet no soiled clothes or signs of vomit were found at the scene or in the autopsy. Durnan also refused to talk to investigators after that night, according to the lawyer's allegations.

He has claimed publicly that he has been communicating with the family when he has never been in contact with them, despite (their) repeated calls and texts." That is the accusation flying from Martha Nolan-O'Slatarra's relatives. They say Durnan ignored their phones while claiming a relationship they never had.

Bowe added his own take on the situation. "The family's medical examiner does not believe someone of Martha's age and health would have died from the level of intoxicants found in her body." That statement hits hard against any suggestion she simply overdosed on drugs. The family is now planning to file the suit against Durnan in New York Supreme Court.

The preliminary filing claims Durnan, a father-of-two, 'intentionally and wrongfully assaulted' the fashion designer without detailing the specific accusations against him. It further accuses Durnan of gross negligence, recklessness and wanton conduct that directly caused Nolan-O'Slatarra's death – either individually or in combination with one another. The legal document seeks to recover damages for the personal injuries and conscious pain and suffering sustained by Martha Nolan-O'Slatarra prior to her death as well as punitive damages and pecuniary damages to her family, according to the filing obtained by the Daily Mail.

Nolan-O'Slatarra, originally from Ireland, was pictured sipping champagne, taking private jets and hanging out with friends on boats, on social media posts before she vanished. The yacht where Nolan-O'Slatarra was found unresponsive is pictured in reports as a plush 50-foot cabin-cruiser. Sources have previously speculated that Nolan-O'Slatarra succumbed to a drug overdose after photographs from the boat showed a dusting of mysterious white powder across a seat.

However, sources close to the family told the New York Post that an independent autopsy they had commissioned showed the designer had only 'trace amounts of cocaine' in her system. Instead, they claimed, it found some sort of assault led directly to Nolan-O'Slatarra's death. The fashion designer had recently celebrated the opening of her East x East popup shop at Gurney's Montauk Resort and Seawater Spa just days before her mysterious end.

The Nolan-O'Slatarra family continues to press the Suffolk County police for answers about her mysterious death. "We are in the same place where we were this time 12 months ago," a source close to the family told the Irish Independent. "We knew, and were being told, very little then, and we know even less now." Detectives have only said that an initial post-mortem examination 'did not show evidence of violence and her final cause of death is pending further investigation.'

Durnan had previously been accused of assault when Michael Balfe, a retired firefighter, claimed in a 2022 lawsuit he was 'viciously attacked, bit and assaulted' during a gig at New York's Webster Hall. Balfe, 61, said the unprovoked assault on September 11, 2021 – the 20th anniversary of 9/11 – left him 'seriously injured both physically and mentally.' He sued Durnan for battery and Webster Hall for negligence, claiming security guards at the storied East Village venue, which has hosted the likes of Madonna, Metallica and U2, didn't step in fast enough to protect him.

Criminal court filings reveal Durnan was arrested on misdemeanor charges, including possession of a controlled substance and assault, but pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was handed a one-year conditional discharge. He claimed, however, that he was acting in 'justifiable self-defense' and that Balfe was the 'initial aggressor' in their civil suit, which was settled in December 2023.

An attorney representing Durnan now maintains that he was not responsible for Nolan-O'Slatarra's untimely death. Robert Holdman instead claimed that Nolan-O'Slatarra went limp between 10.30pm to 11pm on the night of August 4, and Durnan feared she was having a heart attack. At that point, Durnan tried to perform CPR but it was to no avail, the lawyer claimed. "She was gone almost immediately," Holdman told New York Magazine last year. Mourners embraced following the funeral of Martha Nolan-O'Slatarra at the Cathedral of the Assumption, Carlow on August 20, 2025.

She was non-responsive." Those were the words used by a lawyer describing his client's condition after she allegedly stripped off her clothes because they had been soaked with vomit from Nolan-O'Slatarra that night. The situation paints a grim picture of what happened on that fatal evening.

Nolan-O'Slatarra came to the United States roughly ten years ago and quickly embraced her new existence in New York City. In an interview with The Irish Independent back in 2024, she told reporters that she loved living on the Upper East Side. Her social media feeds showed a glamorous life filled with champagne sips, private jet trips to Nashville for concerts, and helicopter rides alongside her sales exec boyfriend, Nicholas DiRubio.

Behind the scenes of this high-profile image, she built several businesses of her own. She launched fashion accessories brand Duper and a luxury swimwear label called East x East. However, that glittering exterior did not shield her from legal troubles. A former employer took her to court in 2022, claiming she stole $34,000 from the company bank account. She denied the charge, and eventually, the case was settled without further ado.

Her personal life saw its own turn of events as well. Nolan-O'Slatarra married Sam Ryan but later called it quits with him. They finalized an uncontested divorce just a few months before she died. An attorney representing Durnan has not responded to requests for comment regarding the matter. Meanwhile, the Suffolk County Police Department declined to comment on the case entirely.